ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈ ﱉ ﱊ ﱋ ﱌ ﱍ ﱎ ﱏ ﱐ ﱑ ﱒ ﱓ ﱔ ﱕ ﱖ ﱗ ﱘ ﱙ ﱚ ﱛ ﱜ ﱝ ﱞ
And not alike are the two bodies of water. One is fresh and sweet, palatable for drinking, and one is salty and bitter. And from each you eat tender meat and extract ornaments which you wear, and you see the ships plowing through [them] that you might seek of His bounty; and perhaps you will be grateful.
Tafsir
Verse range: 35:12
Most commentators say that the verse intends to draw a parable regarding the status of disbelief and faith, or the disbeliever and the believer. Faith cannot be confused with disbelief in goodness and benefit, just as the two seas—the sweet, fresh water and the salty, bitter water—cannot be confused. Following this interpretation, the phrase: **{And from each [of them] you eat tender meat}** serves to show that the status of the disbeliever and the believer (or disbelief and faith) is inferior to the status of the two seas. This is because the bitter sea shares with the fresh sea in some good and benefit: tender meat is found in both, ornaments are extracted from both, and ships sail upon both. However, there is no benefit in disbelief or the disbeliever. This is analogous to Allah’s saying: **{Those are like cattle; rather, they are more astray}** and **{like stones, or even harder in heart. And indeed, there are stones from which rivers burst forth}**. The more apparent meaning is that this verse mentions another proof of Allah's power, derived from the fact that the two seas are equal in appearance but differ in water: one is sweet and fresh, and the other is salty and bitter. If this difference were by compulsion, the two similar things would not have differed. Furthermore, after their difference, similar things emerge from both: tender meat is found in both, and ornaments are taken from both. He who creates difference in similar things and similarity in different things can only be an All-Powerful, Willful Agent. The statement **{And the two seas are not equal}** points to the fact that their inequality is evidence of the perfection of His power and the execution of His will.
In this verse, there are several issues:
Linguists state that water of the sea, if it contains saltiness, is not called māliḥ (salty/briny). Rather, it is called milḥ (salt). Some jurisprudence books mention that salt makes the sea water māliḥ, and this view is taken to task. The sounder view is that when fresh water has salt added to it until it becomes salty, it is called māliḥ. Māliḥ water refers to water that is salty by its original creation. This is because māliḥ implies something with a discernible saltiness to the taste, whereas milḥ water (water that is salty by nature) is not merely water and salt, unlike salty food. Fresh water to which salt is added has a discernible saltiness to the taste, unlike that which is salty by its original creation. Therefore, when the jurist says the sea water becomes salty due to earthy, saline particles, he is considering the origin—that it is fresh water adjacent to salt. The linguists, when they say the sea water is milḥ, consider it so from its original creation. Ajāj means bitter.
The phrase {And from each [of them] you eat tender meat} refers to birds and fish. {And you extract from them an ornament you wear} refers to pearls and coral. {And you see the ships traversing them} means they cleave the sea by their movement, i.e., cutting through it.
The phrase {and that you may seek of His bounty and that you may be grateful} indicates what we mentioned: that the purpose of the verse is to use the two seas and what is in them as evidence for the existence, oneness, and perfect power of Allah.
Then Allah Almighty said: **{He causes the night to gain on the day and the day to gain on the night, and He has subjected the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term. That is Allah, your Lord; to Him belongs sovereignty...}**
